There’s a funny if intimidating gun-nut bumper sticker you may have seen on the road: “gun control means using both hands.” It’s clever, invoking and mocking gun control at the same time. This last week the United States government, by its actions, formally adopted this bumper sticker as its de-facto nuclear weapons and arms control […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
Public-Sector Unions
In an age where only 7.2 percent of private-sector workers in the United States belong to unions, it may come as a surprise that 37.4 percent of all public-sector (i.e. government) workers are unionized. Put another way, there are more public-sector workers in unions (7.9 million) than in the private-sector (7.4 million), despite the […]
Indigenous and American Indian Studies Scholars Speak Out against SB1070, Call for an Economic Boycott of Arizona
May 19, 2010, TUCSON — Indigenous and American Indian studies scholars are condemning Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and related legislation. “Clearly, and bluntly, the state law is racist and discriminatory against so-called ‘illegal immigrants’ crossing the borders from the South, namely from Mexico,” said Simon Ortiz, a Native American studies professor at Arizona State University, […]
Iran, the Brazil-Turkey Deal, and New Sanctions: What the Media Are Missing
Two documents are driving the Iran-related news these days: the agreement announced Monday on refueling the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) brokered by Brazil and Turkey and the draft “Elements” of a potential new Iran sanctions resolution agreed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and circulated on Tuesday to the Council’s […]
“Homes, Not Shelters!” Day of Action in NYC, on Malcolm X’s Birthday
Manhattan/Brooklyn/Bronx — Early on Wednesday morning, the anniversary of Malcolm X‘s birth, Picture the Homeless carried out two banner drops. Transgressing into vacant buildings in Brooklyn and El Barrio, they dropped banners from the top that read “Homes Not Shelters / Casas No Refugios,” and “Let Housing Bloom . . . berg.” For more […]
Mr. Lula Goes to Tehran — Brazil’s Neocons React
Brazil’s Ascent under Lula’s Leadership Under the leadership of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil has become a regional leader in Latin America with vibrant international foreign policy. A look at the internal political dynamics of Brazil would be useful also. During President Lula’s presidency, Brazil has had tremendous economic growth. But in the coming […]
Why Should Americans Pay for Israel’s “Iron Dome” Missile Defense?
Last week, the Obama Administration notified Israel that it would support the authorization and appropriation of $205 million of U.S. taxpayer money to Israel to purchase ten batteries of the “Iron Dome” missile defense system. If authorized and appropriated by Congress, this money would be above and beyond the Obama Administration’s record-breaking FY2011 budget request […]
How Do You Spell “Success”? A Look at “Internal Devaluation” in Greece, Latvia, and Argentina
As of today the idea that Greece might be better off leaving the Euro and renegotiating its debt is considered by many to be unthinkable. Instead, the country is embarking upon a program of “internal devaluation” — in which it keeps the Euro and lowers its real exchange rate by creating enough unemployment to drive […]
2010 U.S. Assembly of Jews: Confronting Racism and Israeli Apartheid
Our Purpose, Goals, Assumptions, and Expectations for the Assembly What Is Zionism? Zionism is a political movement that supports the ongoing project of colonizing Palestine for the purposes of building a state premised on Jewish nationalism. Therefore, a central goal of the current Zionist movement is to ensure that Israel maintains the maximum area […]
Puerto Rico: Second National Strike in Less than a Year
The student movement and the strike it has sustained for almost a month at the main campus of the state-run University of Puerto Rico (UPR), which has spread to 10 of the 11 UPR campuses, catalyzed a massive social movement convening a national strike today, May 18, 2010. As recent as October 15, 2009, a […]
Viva Brazil! Viva Our Sovereign and Independent Foreign Policy!
Anti-communist crows and vultures, and Social Democrat toucans — all clamored against the peaceful negotiation of the conflict over Iran, because it is Lula who led the negotiation, which would further bolster his image. In the event of a failure, even if it leads to a new major military conflict, it could be exploited domestically […]
Hikers’ Moms Go to Iran — What about Wives of the Cuban Five?
Cindy Hickey, Laura Fattal, and Nora Shourd — the mothers of Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, the three American hikers detained in Iran — spoke to the Associated Press on 17 May 2010: Laura Fattal, the mother of Josh Fattal, said: We had to maintain this great optimism throughout these nine and a […]
Puerto Rico: Violent Confrontation with Demonstrators
On the night of May 20, 2010, as the governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño held a political fundraiser in one of the salons of the Hotel Sheraton in San Juan, the capital city, students and supporters clashed with special police forces who arrived to quash the demonstration in the hotel’s lobby. Members of the […]
Reading Railroad Noir
Linda Grant Niemann. Railroad Noir: The American West at the End of the Twentieth Century. Photographs by Joel Jensen. Indiana University Press, 2010. Pp. 168. ISBN-13: 978-0-253-35446-4. Linda Niemann worked for twenty years as a railroad brakeman in the western US. I have worked for twenty years in a railroad diesel shop in the eastern […]
Puerto Rico: UPR Is Not On Sale!
My support to students’ strike at Universidad de Puerto Rico against privatization + budget cuts. They’re under siege by cops. Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print
Washington’s Reaction to the Iran Nuclear Deal Brokered by Brazil and Turkey
The compromise agreement on refueling the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) mediated by Brazil and Turkey is a truly big deal. From a “macro” perspective, this is a watershed event: two rising economic powers from what we condescendingly used to call the “Third World” have asserted consequential political and strategic influence on a high-profile matter of […]
Market Irrationality in the Eurozone
Markets can be irrational, as Keynes famously pointed out, and the Eurozone/Greek crisis is a classic example. “The markets” for months have been demanding more blood from Greece, as the financial press has continuously and often unquestioningly reported: more commitment to spending cuts, tax increases, and “procyclical” policies that the bondholders, EU authorities, and the […]
Joint Declaration of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Iran and Brazil
Having met in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, the undersigned have agreed on the following Declaration: 1. We reaffirm our commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and in accordance with the related articles of the NPT, recall the right of all State Parties, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, to develop […]
Turkish Foreign Minister: Iran’s Uranium Will Be Safeguarded in Turkey Till Tehran Reactor Receives Its Fuel
Tehran — The Turkish Foreign Minister said at the joint press conference with the Foreign Ministers of Iran and Brazil after signing the trilateral agreement on Tehran Research Reactor fuel: Turkey and Brazil guarantee that, until fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor is delivered to Iran, Iran’s low-enriched uranium will be kept in Turkey. […]
Iran, Brazil, and Turkey: What’s The Deal?
The New York Times, among others, is reporting that Turkey, Brazil, and Iran have agreed “in principle” to a nuclear fuel-swap that the three countries hope can placate the United States and its P5+1 partners at least enough to avoid a new round of Security Council sanctions on Iran. More details will be available today, […]
